Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) -- Calgary

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Shevchenko concert

Sunday March 15 marked the annual concert in honor of the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. The concert took place at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish Hall and was organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Calgary.

Our sumivtsi took an active role in the concert with the youth choir, under the direction of podruhy Halya and Chrystia, opening the event with two songs in honor of Shevchenko. Podruha Chrystia's group also recited some of Shevchenko's poetry. Many works of Shevchenko's were heard during the concert and were performed by the various classes of the ABVM Ukrainian School.

This year's concert differed from previous years in that some dance groups took part. First to perform was Tryzub Dancers who performed the dance "Kalyna", a theme common in Shevchenko's poetry. Following them were our "kozaky" from starshe yunatstvo who sang Kotlyarevskyy's "Viye viter, viye bujnyy" and recited excerpts from "Hamaliya".

Shevchenko
The theatrical dance troupe "Suzirya" danced two spring dances called "Vesnyanyy kozachok" and "Khorovod".

Lengthy applause from an ecstatic audience followed the performance of our CYM girls' ensemble "Svitanok". They performed a musical-dance composition to Shevchenko's "Kateryna" under the direction of Beata Pasieka. It is worth mentioning that the girls first performed this number a week earlier at the Shevchenko Concert in Edmonton organized by the Muzychne Tovarystvo, also to an excited audience.

A very unexpected but pleasant surprise visit by violin-virtuoso Vasyl Popadiuk concluded this year's Shevchenko Concert. He thrilled the audience with some well-known pieces, as well as some new music from his latest CD.